DT News - UK - New research shows chewing gum may turn off earworms

Dental Tribune International

Thu. 14 May 2015

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READING, UK: Earworms, from the German “Ohrwurm”, are catchy tunes that repeat in one’s head. A recent poll suggested that over 90 per cent of the population experience them at least once a week, with 15 per cent classifying their earworms as disturbing. A new study from the University of Reading has found that chewing gum could help to get rid of the unwanted auditory images.

The study found that people who chewed gum after hearing catchy songs thought less often about the song than in two control conditions in which they did not chew gum or tapped with each of the fingers of their dominant hand in turn. Chewing gum also reduced the frequency with which they “heard” the song by one-third.

Previous research has shown that mouthing something to oneself, or even just moving one’s jaw around, interferes with both short-term memory and imagining sounds. This study, however, is the first to examine the effect of chewing gum on earworms.

“The earworm phenomenon stretches back at least to the 19^th century—Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain both referenced the experience in well-known works. The majority of us experience them for only short periods—perhaps just a few minutes—but others can experience them for two or three days which can be extremely frustrating and debilitating. We wanted to explore whether a simple act like chewing gum could help,” explained Dr Philip Beaman from the university’s School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences who led the study.

“We invited 98 volunteers to take part in our study. After playing them the catchy tunes Play Hard by David Guetta and Payphone by Maroon 5, we asked them to try not to think of the songs they had just heard over the next three minutes but to hit a key each time they did. In the chewing gum condition, volunteers reported thinking of and ‘hearing’ the song less often than in no-activity and finger-tapping control conditions,” he stated.

Beaman added that, as well as helping those who suffer badly from earworms, the results suggested chewing gum might help reduce other unwanted or intrusive thoughts. “Interfering with our own ‘inner speech’ through a more sophisticated version of the gum-chewing approach may work more widely. However more research is needed to see whether this will help counter symptoms of obsessive-compulsive and similar disorders,” he said.

In a 2009 study, the University of Reading showed that virtually any song could become an earworm. Over 100 people were asked if they experienced earworms, for how long and the types of tunes heard. There was very little repetition in the list, although some artists were mentioned more than once, including Pink Floyd, Justin Timberlake and Guns N’ Roses. A 2012 study by Goldsmiths, University of London, also found that earworms are a very individual experience.

“It’s possible that popular songs are particularly difficult to suppress,” Beaman continued. “Our previous research found that people only spontaneously report earworms of songs that they know well—we hope to examine this further in future studies. In the meantime however, the results of this study should be music to the ears for many.”

The study, titled “Want to block earworms from conscious awareness? B(u)y gum!”, was published online in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology on 21 April.

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